LittleBaron Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 Hello all! I am working on a complete set of 'snow elf' weapons. Here are a couple shown in-game for easy viewing: http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p76/lesfleursmal/SEBattleAxe_V1.jpg http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p76/lesfleursmal/SEMace_V3.jpg http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p76/lesfleursmal/SEMagicStaff_V2.jpg And here is a link to a photobucket album with current in-game pictures of the whole set: My link The concept of my set is that of nature inspired weapons that especially focus on elements like spindled leaves, thistles and thorns. There is also purposefully a Dwemer element to them as a reminder of the close er... relationship... between the two races. I am interested to hear what people think of them, and I also need a bit of technical help with the bow. I followed the instructions for skinning armor on the NexusWiki ('cause there isn't a tutorial I found for skinning bows, specifically) which I found very informative, and spent about two days fighting with my bow to get it into the game. Best case scenario is that the bow was somehow invisible or perhaps the mesh just didn't render, worst case is that it causes CTD. I am able to show it in game in the pictures because I just removed the Skin data, i.e. it functions but is completely static atm. My best guess is that exporting the bow via the existing Fallout3 nifscripts for Blender always generates a "BSDismemberSkinInstance", but bows in SKYRIM just call for a "NiSkinInstance". The structure for both of these types of nodes seems to be identical, though. I tried just renaming the 'BSDismembers" to "NiSkins" but that just made NifSkope crabby and still caused CTD in game. I also tried to export using Oblivion settings, but that resulted in NO skin data exporting. If anyone out there has a fix or knows of a tutorial I thank you in advance for your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanusForbeare Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 Those are beautiful! You can really tell that you took your time with those textures. I find that in a few cases, the leaf-shaped handguard looks a little stiff and/or out of proportion for the rest of the weapon (the dagger was the most obvious case of it). Have you experimented with adding some curvature to them, so that they wrap around the wielder's hand? I think it would be a nice touch. That being said, that's a stylistic detail and completely subjective. I think they'll make a great addition to the game! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Axisdeath Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 Perhaps create something a bit more swordish? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaptTorbjorn Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 (edited) Have you tried deleting the created BSDismemberSkinInstance, and then copying an existing NiSkinInstance branch from from an already in-game bow, pasting it into your mesh and then adjusting the settings in it to match what you want? The weapons look fantastic by the way; just curious, are you using glowmaps for any of them? Perhaps create something a bit more swordish?And here is a link to a photobucket album with current in-game pictures of the whole set: My link Click the link... Edited February 5, 2012 by KaptTorbjorn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleBaron Posted February 5, 2012 Author Share Posted February 5, 2012 @KaptTorbJorn: That was a good idea. Just tried it... The mesh now shows up in game without CTD, but it's a jumbled mess, and doesn't move in the slightest when using the bow. :( I'll keep at it, but this might be something I'll have to put on the back-burner until updated Blender scripts come out (or something). Also, no glow maps on the weapons at the moment. @JanusForbeare: Thank you for the feedback. You might be right about the dagger's handguard. I'll have to take a second look at that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleBaron Posted February 5, 2012 Author Share Posted February 5, 2012 So, this is where I am at with the bow, for the purpose of furthering our collective knowledge base ;) : I realized today that during 'Fallout3' nif export in Blender there is an option called "Export Dismember Body Parts" which was selected by default. Turning it off results in an exported .nif with the desired "NiSkinInstance" node rather than the "BSDismemberSkinInstance". Another CTD causing issue was that while preparing the .nif to be SKYRIM ready (according to the armor wiki) you have to eliminate the root scene node, but the Bow and the SkinInstance actually needs one. So once they are inserted into the NEW new .nif intended for the game, you just make sure that the root node entry for the SkinInstance points to the 0:BSFadeNode. And then no more CTD's! Unfortunately, after making all the steps to make my new .nif SKYRIM-able, the bow in game will still not 'animate' while drawing an arrow The skin is there, the mesh renders just fine in game, no CTD, but the bow is completely static. I double checked that the vertexes had actual wieghts on them, so SOMETHING should be happening, even if that something would be wonky.I poured over an original SKYRIM bow mesh and compared it to mine, and I just can't seem to see anything significant that is different, but I feel like I have left a 'switch' in the wrong position or something. Anyway, if someone wants to ever take a gander at the .nif I have and take a stab at fixing what ails it please contact me. Otherwise I will wait until we know more. Thanks everyone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
granreycero Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 (edited) Since they're snow elves, I feel as though a crystalline blue and silver would be a better color scheme. The swords look a bit cartoonish, and I don't really see the purpose of the staff. What attack animations would it even use? You could do with some bigger pictures. (Unless PB is just being gay and refusing to enlarge.) Just my two cents.Edit: Derp. I completely forgot that you can put spells on staffs. Edited February 6, 2012 by granreycero Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urwy Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Looking good! I especially like the Crescent war axe :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AspenShadow Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Amazing textures and I love the staff design, even if the mace calls out to me more lol.The effort you put into your work really shows and I hope you get the bow animation working soon :thumbsup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleBaron Posted February 6, 2012 Author Share Posted February 6, 2012 @GranReyCero: Thanks for the feedback. You're not the first person to tell me the colors aren't what you imagined they should be. I take my cues from the only existing object made by snow ellves, the giant bronze-ish statue in Irkngthand, Statue of the Falmer, and the color schemes favored by their counterparts, the Dwemer. In game, the silvery blue parts do shine like ice, though ;)The pictures in PB are as big as the 3 in my original post, so maybe PB WAS acting up?---What makes the swords look cartoony in your mind? @Urwy @ Apenshadow: Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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